Moments in not so ordinary lives
by Wootmeister
Summary: A collection of stories mostly focusing on Sam Carter and Jennifer Keller. There may be some mild slash/femslash. No real order to these, just whatever pops into my head. please review :
1. Worried

This will be a collection of small stand alone stories, mainly based around seasons 4 and 5 of Stargate Atlantis. I don't really know what will end up here, but there will be a strong focus on Sam Carter and Jennifer Keller. I love the chemistry between these two characters, and these chapters at least will be based around their relationship. There may be some mild slash, but nothing graphic.

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Worried.

Pausing in the doorway Jennifer Keller took a deep breath of the cool sea air, before turning to the figure sitting out on the balcony, knees pulled up to her chest, blond hair loose. She tried to hide the loneliness, the isolation, but Jennifer could see it. Perhaps it was because the doctor could relate to the feelings, not alone exactly, but outside the group. As if she was just an observer, watching. Head lent back against the wall staring out at the moons, this Sam Carter was very different to the capable leader who steered Atlantis between disasters on a daily basis. Pensive, still and so _human_, seeking out the tranquillity of this small and rarely used balcony. Tranquillity that Jennifer was about to break. Great. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, but seeing the colonel leave the infirmary after visiting with a team who had just lost one of their members to the wraith, the doctor had felt a wave of sympathy and compassion for the commander. Always comforting, never comforted.

Jennifer broke out of her thoughts with a start, realising that Sam was now staring at her rather than the sky.

"Is there something wrong, doctor?" Sam asked, preparing herself to rise from her position on the ground.

"Jennifer. And no, there's nothing wrong." _God she looks tired. _"How much coffee have you been drinking?"

Letting out a small chuckle Sam relaxed back down. "You're worried about my coffee intake?"

"Mildly concerned" waving the balcony door shut she moved over and slid down the wall until she was sitting next to the other woman, but far enough away not to intrude on her space.

"Why?" Sam didn't move away, but turned her face back out to the view, her question short and sharp.

"Because you look exhausted."

"Blunt and to the point. I knew there would be problems when your doctor sees you every day" the colonel mused

"I'm not concerned as your doctor" Jennifer said softly "I'm concerned as your friend."

Sam didn't reply for a few moments, then let out a small sigh and turned to face her. "It's not coffee."

"mmm?"

Shrugging with one shoulder she explained "sometimes the days when the personal messages come through get to me."

Unconsciously mirroring the older woman's posture, Jennifer smiled slightly "me too. I imagine that it gets to everyone. Something would be wrong if it didn't."

"Yeah, but it's a bit different. For a large number of people here, most of the people that are important to them are here as well. For me, most aren't."

"Most?"

"Yeah, most" Sam sent a soft smile in her direction, meeting her eyes for the first time that evening.

Jennifer felt something inside her relax, something she wasn't even aware had been tense. _Why does that mean so much to me? Don't blush, don't blush...._

"It was Daniel's - Dr Jackson's – birthday yesterday" she continued, "and sending an email and instructions to Vala on how to bake a cake isn't the same..." her voice trailed off

"...as actually being there" Jennifer finished. Sam shifted into a more relaxed position and nodded. "They're members of SG 1 as well?"

"Yeah. It's strange, being here without them. Feels like something important is always missing. Not just the friendship - family even, but the support and the confidence. The knowledge that if you are in danger of screwing up someone will tell you. Understanding people so well that you can predict how they will react." She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, "but then I remember where I am and what I'm doing, and the enormity of that usually pulls me out of any bad place. Or at least scares me so much that I have something more important to think about" she turned with a wry grin to Jennifer, who snorted.

"If that's a jab at my confidence issues, just be glad I'm too tired to hit you"

"So if I got my timing better you would?" Sam asked with a grin.

Jennifer couldn't help but laugh, relieved to see some humour and light dancing in the colonel's eyes. Mischief flashed across her face and the doctor caught a glimpse of another, more relaxed Sam Carter. One that wasn't often seen on Atlantis. _Which is a shame. She must be putting herself under more pressure than anyone knew. Living up to a reputation spanning galaxies, while filling some very big shoes. No wonder she looks exhausted._

Rising suddenly and smoothly, Sam stretched before offering a hand down to the smaller woman. Even though she was reluctant to end the connection they had made, Jennifer was grateful for the chance to get off the cold floor. She accepted the help, enjoying the brief, warm contact.

"I have to say, not the most comfortable place for a heart to heart" she muttered, rubbing the small of her back.

Sam chuckled again. "We could relocate to the mess" she said "I could use a hot drink." She shot Jennifer a grin "but I'll stick to tea. I've got this doctor who's mildly concerned about the amount of coffee I have to drink to survive all my paperwork."


	2. Chess

Chess.

"You will be fine McKay" Dr Jennifer Keller reassured the nervy physicist as they walked. "Getting pins and needles in your leg after spending all day perched on a lab stool is not really surprising. Just get a bit more exercise."

"I was spending that time working on vital plans for power conservation, it's not like I could just get up and go for a jog." McKay replied a bit petulantly.

Smiling patiently, well used to his sometimes abrasive personality, Jennifer answered as they turned the corner into the mess hall. "Do a lap of the lab then."

"Oh yeah, because that's not at all odd." He grumbled sarcastically.

"Walk, Rodney. You don't need to train for the 100 metre sprint or anything. Just get up off the stool every so often and walk a bit. Problem solved." Suppressing a sigh Jennifer glanced around the hall and made for a table. There, heads bent in concentration, two colonels were locked in battle.

"It's your move you know." Sam Carter said, moving a chair out for the approaching doctor with her foot.

"I know. I'm just considering my options."

"And how long have you been considering?"

"I'm being thorough." John Sheppard glared at the board and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey Rodney. Doc."

"How's it going?" Jennifer asked sliding into the seat. Rodney took the one opposite her and studied the chessboard.

"Slowly." Both players answered, identically rueful expressions on their faces. She glanced at Rodney, who shook his head. She sighed. It was going to be a long evening. The game of chess had become a regular between the two colonels after a bet between John and Rodney, a bet that John had lost after Sam beat him decisively. Rodney, who had played chess with Sam before had been annoyingly smug about that. However since then the two had been pretty much evenly matched, which sometimes led to very, very long games.

Rodney reached over to snitch a piece of jello from the bowl by Sam. Her hand whipped out, slapping him lighting fast on the wrist.

"Ah ah" she warned, not looking up.

Rodney turned with an injured expression to Jennifer, who stifled a giggle and reached for a coffee mug beside her.

"Just how many moves ahead are you thinking?" she asked, swirling the ice cold dregs that suggested the colonel's attention had not wavered for some time.

"The amount of time he is taking to move I would say he has played out entire games in his head" Sam said flashing a grin at the woman beside her, "games that clearly I won which is why he still hasn't moved".

"Or maybe that's what I want you to think..." John put in, still not looking up.

"Yeah yeah" Sam scoffed good-naturedly, leaning over for the mug.

"I wouldn't" Jennifer said.

"Hmm? Oh. Eugh. Ok, what's the time?"

"Past Rodney's bedtime"

The scientist, who had only been half following the conversation while prodding and massaging his leg, looked up with a start, "What?"

Jennifer sighed, "Pins and needles, Rodney, PINS AND NEEDLES! Stop fussing."

Even John glanced up at this outburst and chuckled. "Been bothering the Doc again, McKay?"

"It was a valid medical inquiry" Rodney huffed.

John raised his hand as if to move a piece, then retreated again with a frown.

"Ok, enough is enough!" Jennifer moved fast, tipping both kings over at the same time.

"Hey!" both players turned to her indignantly.

"Had you decided on a move?" she asked looking pointedly at John.

"I was narrowing down the options..." he replied evasively.

"And – honestly - whatever move he made, would you have finished the game in the next hour?" this was directed at Sam.

"Not unless he was even dafter than normal" Sam lent back rolling tension out of her shoulders. "I would have won this time you know."

"Hey, I was planning out a brilliant, fool-proof strategy." Rodney eyed John sceptically at this statement, "well, I was" he muttered

"Then you can both be happy, can't you?" Jennifer said with the ruthless practicality normally seen in someone dealing with stubborn children.

Sam chuckled, giving her a fond smile. "Is this one of your subtle hints that we really have been up too long?"

Jen slowly looked over the table with its abandoned plates, drifting paperwork and long forgotten coffee cups. "I don't know what you could mean." She stood pointedly until Sam stretched and joined her, shuffling the papers together.

"Tipping the kings was a good way to end the game" she said to the smaller woman as they headed towards the door.

"Well, you both surrendering at the same time was the best way I could see. Plus, if you really wanted to keep going all the pieces were in the right place." Sam smiled at her characteristically thoughtful solution.

"You play chess, don't you?" she said slowly, "you knew how to surrender."

Jennifer snorted softly "all that shows is that I know how to play badly, so don't get any ideas!"

Sam grinned and elbowed her gently. "Have some confidence."

Still at the table John finished clearing the pieces away and glanced down at Rodney. "Something's not right here. You're very quiet McKay. Is there some disaster you haven't told us about?"

"I think" Sam threw back over her shoulder as she left the room, "he's worrying about the pins and needles again."


	3. Leg

Set the day after "Trio"

* * *

Leg

"Don't even think about it."

Sam groaned under her breath and turned to face the petite doctor standing in the doorway to her quarters, hands on hips and a firm expression on her face. Shifting her weight slightly uncomfortably she tried to look innocent. Not easy, considering she had been caught trying to juggle her laptop, three bulging files and the crutches she had been given to use after breaking her leg down the genii mine. The strain of their recent adventure was evident on Jennifer Keller's face, lines of exhaustion causing Sam a brief pang of worry, before a more immediate pang from her leg made her wince. Jennifer moved immediately to her side, relieving her of files and her computer and looking closely at her face.

"Bad?" Sam said nothing. She had long since given up trying to hide anything from the perceptive doctor, but that didn't mean she had to make a song and dance about falling off some boxes. Taking her silence for the admission that it was, Jennifer indicated the bed with a nod of her head.

"I should have known it was too early to give you crutches" she mused, watching the tall colonel squirm stiffly back into the pillows. Sam glared back.

"I'm fine. I'm not going to run any marathons or dance a jig any time soon, but I can still get some work done."

Jennifer tried to suppress an exasperated smile, and failed. "Yesterday you fell through a rusty ceiling down into a mine, fell off a stack of crates, then fell another even taller stack of crates badly breaking your leg in the process and risking severe internal injuries, before crawling around with said broken leg incredibly roughly set. That's not mentioning the 'relatively minor' cuts and strains, plus all the stress you went through working out a way out of there. You're so covered in bruises that, to be frank, you resemble a smurf and I know you're in pain because you took your meds without arguing. At all. And now you want to work?"

"There's nothing wrong with my head" Sam muttered, reclining in a position that was comfortable for almost all her bruises.

"Fair bit of evidence to the contrary right now," Jennifer sat cross legged at the end of the bed. Sam looked for a moment as though she was going to argue, before she sighed and her face relaxed into a tired smile.

"How come you get to work then?" she grumbled good-naturedly, "you went through it all as well."

"Apart from, you know, falling off crates – twice, and breaking my leg? Yes" Jennifer looked down, playing with a fold in the sheet, "I did."

Sam gazed at her for a minute, taking in the dejected pose and tension in her shoulders, before prodding her gently with her good foot. "Hey, it was you who finally found a way out of there."

"Yeah, by nearly killing myself" the younger woman mumbled not meeting Sam's eyes.

"Ok, could you shuffle up here? 'Cos it's gonna hurt for me shuffle down to you, and it took a lot to admit that." She was relieved to see a flicker of a smile cross Jennifer's face as she moved to curl up next to her. Sam encircled her with one arm, playing with a strand of hair. They stayed quiet for a few minutes, taking comfort in each others closeness.

Eventually Sam shifted slightly to look at the doctor. "You did nothing wrong down there. You didn't panic, however much you wanted to. You managed Rodney in crisis mode very well, which is a skill not many have. You came up with ideas to get us out."

"Yeah, which could have gotten you killed." Jennifer's eyes filled with tears that she blinked away furiously, turning her face.

Sam gently turned her back, wiping an errant tear with her thumb. "It was not your fault that the crates were rotten. It was not your fault that I was the natural choice to climb up there. It was not your fault that that there was a tremor at that moment. It was an accident, and I am fine. Well, I will be."

Taking a deep breath Jennifer smiled tremorously. "Sorry" she said meeting Sam's concerned gaze, "I'm just..." she broke off with a shrug.

"Tired. Drained. And pretty stiff and sore, I would imagine" Sam smiled at her softly. "All perfectly understandable."

Jennifer snuggled closer to her. "Is this why you are so impossible to deal with after these sorts of missions?" Sam chuckled.

"Possibly. Janet just thought I was stubborn. She was probably right. And poor Carolyn gave up. She would send me home with Teal'c usually, to keep me out of trouble."

"Hmm...not a bad plan. Pity he's not here. Or that I can't really send you out of the city. And I'm not working. Keeping an eye on you is enough. Rodney's much easier. Even Colonel Sheppard. Sometimes. Dr Harper would really..." here she yawned "...rather I stayed in bed for a bit. You think Teal'c would come out for a visit?"

Sam relaxed listening to the doctor's tired rambling, satisfied that she would fully recover from the experience.

"You'll do instead." She whispered to the dozing woman in her arms.


End file.
